At least some of you must have read an extraordinary piece in the New York Times earlier this week provocatively titled, Yoga and Sex Scandals: No Surprise Here. In that piece, William Broad made a number of assertions – some misleading, some just plain wrong including the remarkable assertion that “(Yoga) began as a sex cult“(sic)!  Thankfully, rebuttals were quick and fast in coming..Most of them highlighted Mr Broad’s false premise and his apparent ignorance about the origins of Yoga, its spiritual aspects as well as the tradition of Tantra. …

Starting with this one by Sandeep which includes quotes from MF Husain’s recent interview. The two that I found most interesting were: (emphasis mine):
MF Husain:
“…Later, in Hyderabad, in 1968, Dr Ram Manohar Lohia suggested I paint the Ramayana. I was completely broke, but I painted 150 canvases over eight years…When I was doing this, some conservative Muslims told me, why don’t you paint on Islamic themes? I said, does Islam have the same tolerance? If you get even the calligraphy wrong, they can tear down a screen.
…
In colleges, you learn about Shakespeare and Keats, …

Boston Herald printed an AP news story last week with a dumb headline “Hindus lament divine case of erectile dysfunction” to which HAF had a very sensible and measured response.
I was struck by the contrast with the Danish cartoon controversy. For more on this, see “The Danish cartoon controversy: A contrast in protests“, Michelle Malikin’s “Support Denmark: Why the forbidden cartoon matter” and Tavleen Singh’s article, “The right to laugh at gods”
…and before someone asks, here is my position on the Danish cartoon controversy:
The point is not whether the cartoons …

I wrote a follow-up comment on Jo’s blog following my earlier comment� which I feel is worth reproducing in full here:
Jo,
First a clarification (which I think is very important):
I am all for freedom of expression and as I have maintained several times in the past, I label myself as a liberal who is prepared to fight for the ideals of freedom, tolerance and respect for others
To make it absolutely clear: Although I do feel offended by certain paintings of Husain 1] this is a free country and Shri Husain is …

Earlier this month (May ’06), the Indian High Commissioner to UK, H.E. Kamalesh Sharma inaugurated an exhibition of paintings by MF Husain in London and remarked that the painter was the greatest modern Indian artist[i].
Although I do not personally understand Husain’s art, I can imagine that he has some admirers. But to call this artist – who has over the years (for more than 2 decades) systematically attempted to denigrate a multitude of Hindu deities, symbols and images as the “greatest modern Indian artist”  is a little over the top.
This …